We all facebook-stalk.
It's like we almost can't help it. What was that guy's name from last night again? Hold on let me check. (Grabs computer, immediate wireless connection, open firefox, type a mere "f" into the box, facebook pops up immediately, already signed in). Well, the party was at Joey's so maybe he's friends with Joey? Hm... doesn't look like he's posted on Joey's wall anytime in the recent past. No it wasn't Jim, definitely not Freedom, not Dylan, who name their kid Phillipina? Hm maybe I'll check... Photos? Don't mind if I do. Aha! That's him. Rick! That was his name, Rick. Damnit, his profile is private. Wait... he's friends with Elena? Ew, what a whore. Ew! He wrote on her wall?? What the fuck? "haha, Kony's like so fucked man. I totes agree. lol" Ew. That ends that. Any guy who uses "lol" gets an immediate and irrevocable boot out of my life.
Does this sound at all familiar? Because I'm pretty sure at least 70% of our generation (and that's on the lowest possible side) experiences this inner monologue at least once a day.
Unfortunate? Perhaps. But true nonetheless.
As I was recently stalking at a random but steady pace yesterday, I realized that not only does facebook become creepier with each passing day, but people are completely fine with it. The funny thing is that while so many people complain about how "creepy" facebook and stalking on facebook is, they still have a facebook AND they still use it to "stalk" other people.
I'm beginning to formulate a theory as to why we are so enamored by facebook. And I've come up with a pretty simple idea: We all want to know each other's shit. We don't want you to know that we know your shit, but we want to know your shit. Facebook has made our lives completely public information. And while we may not be so thrilled to have everyone else know everything about us, we play along because somewhere deep down we just can't deny that we enjoy knowing about one another.
But the real question is:
Is this a bad thing? Is it really so awful to want to know about one another. As we advance further and further into what I imagine will be referred to as the "Technological Age," in the future (or something like that) I can't help but wonder if making our lives public isn't necessarily a bad thing. They say ignorance breeds prejudice... is it possible that the more we know about one another the more we are willing to accept one another? Or is facebook perpetuating quite the opposite? Is it just another way for people to reject one another? After all every one is braver behind a keyboard... To be honest, I don't know. I think it's kind of a bit of both.
Ultimately, I don't have a conclusion because my feelings about facebook are contradictory and a work in progress. What do you guys think?
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